Rise
by John Stall
Summary: A new faction is rising, and they pose the greatest threat that the Mojave has seen yet. And the Courier has dissappeared, so who can save the Mojave?


_War. War never changes. _

_When atomic fire consumed the earth, those who survived did so in great, underground vaults. When they opened, their inhabitants set out across ruins of the old world to build new societies, establish new villages, and form new tribes. _

_As decades passed, what had been the American southwest united beneath the flag of the New California Republic, dedicated to old-world values of democracy and the rule of law. As the Republic grew, so did its needs. Scouts spread east, seeking territory and wealth, in the dry and merciless expanse of the Mojave Desert. They returned with tales of a city untouched by the warheads that had scorched the rest of the world, and a great wall spanning the Colorado River. _

_The NCR mobilized its army and set it east to occupy the Hoover Dam, and restore it to working condition. But across the Colorado, another society had arisen under a different flag. A vast army of slaves, forged in the conquest of 86 tribes: Caesar's Legion. _

_Four years have passed since the Republic held the Dam - just barely - against the Legion's onslaught. The Legion did not retreat. Across the river, they gathered strength. Campfires burned, training drums beat. _

_Through it all, the New Vegas Strip has stayed open for business under the control of its mysterious overseer, Mr. House, and his army of rehabilitated Tribals and police robots. _

_It took one man to change the fate of an entire Wasteland, and he was known simply as the Courier. This was Jason Trivett's persona. A legend that the New Vegas State would never forget. Even after he left the NVS to travel to the rumored Capital Wasteland, existing back east and never returned. _

_The New Vegas State is now run by one of Trivett's closest friends, Craig Boone. Boone had run it fairly being a friend to the New California Republic and the inhabiting Brotherhood of Steel. He fought a long and hard war almost immediately after Jason left. The Legion was unrelenting and fought to almost the last legionary, as a few had escaped. To this day Boone runs the NVS with the help of Sharon Rose Cassidy, another one of Jason's close friends. However a new threat has come to the Wasteland, one that had thought to have left years ago, and one that only the Brotherhood remembered…_

Boone strode over to the area overlooking Nipton. "This place was just getting started again! Why would anyone have attacked it?" The population of Nipton had been slaughtered like animals for the second time. When the State had just been formed one of Jason's first acts was to reinstate a population to Nipton, which had been unoccupied from the time that the Legion had swept through and killed nearly the entire population. Cassidy answered, "Naturally I would have said the Legion, but no survivors have been seen in this region for at least a month!"

"Are we certain all of the citizens are dead?" Cassidy asked a nearby Securitron. "At last count all 124 residents have been accounted for among the dead. "Damn, I thought some of them would have escaped the battle."

"This was no battle, Cass, this was a complete massacre." Boone answered.

"Boone, I think you're going to want to see this!" called a NVS trooper from down below. Boone and Cass walked down the slope to meet the trooper. "First Sergeant Jake Blackburn, Scout's Division reporting sir!"

"At ease son, we don't need to worry about frivolities here, just find whoever did this and return the favor." Jake was a dark-haired youth of about 23, and had the tanned complexion of anyone who had spent any time out in the sun. His green eyes looked uncertain of what he should do now after being addressed so informally by his State's leader. "Carry on Blackburn, we haven't got all day!" Cass sighed impatiently. "Well ma'am, I am certainly not an expert, but the wounds on the bodies looked to have been caused by energy weapons, not bullets or explosives." Cass asked "How do you know what an energy weapon does to a body, we don't use them."

"I fought with some Brotherhood Knights for about two months as part of a joint-operation to drive out the fiends up north." He replied. "And you are sure these came from energy weapons" Cass replied, "One hundred percent sure?"

"Ma'am I said I was no expert, but you gotta know even if never seen an energy weapon before. These are wounds are not caused by bullets or explosives."

Blackburn started to say something else but stopped mid-sentence. "What is it?" Boone asked. Blackburn did not answer; instead he raised a shaky finger and pointed at the cliff that overlooked Nipton.

There were several people clad in what appeared to be modified Brotherhood armor, or if not that some different type of Power Armor. The figures did not move, just looked and observed the scurry of activity beneath them, as if they were completely bored with the proceedings. "Securitron 576 through 780, report." Several Securitrons rolled up to Boone and Cass. "Find a way up to those figures, and escort them down here immediately. Engage, only if fired upon first." In answer he got a robotic, "Complying."

The Securitrons quickly rolled up to the cliff following the pre-determined path their navigation computers had laid out for them. The figures did either not seem to concern themselves with the robots, or did not care that they were there. One of them calmly unhooked something from his belt when the robots were halfway up the slope, and lightly chucked the object back over his shoulder. The object exploded in a large sphere of electric energy. The energy completely decimated the Securitrons. They seemed to short circuit and immediately died.

The onlookers stared in shock as the soldiers of the New Vegas State were destroyed in such a nonchalant way. "Fire at the man on the hill," Boone cried "FIRE, FI-"

"Capitulate and live, fight us and die." a booming, commanding voice echoed over the ruined town. "Leave none alive, except for those three," the figure said pointing to Boone, Cass, and Blackburn "Let them live to strike fear in the hearts of their people."

The soldiers surrounding the figure raised, what appeared to be modified plasma rifles and fired straight at the oncoming soldiers and Securitrons of the New Vegas State. The beams swiftly cut all opposition down, no one survived except the three. The menacing voice stated, "You have been warned, now leave while we raze this unclean town to the ground." Taking his advice the three fled, but not before Cassidy shot out a comment "We will return and kill all you bastards."

**I'm aware of how short this was, and I apologize. This however will continue soon, I just need to try and free up some more time. This will not be completely along with the game, but I will try to keep it as story based as possible. Except with the mysterious faction. With them my creativity will blow them over with new weaponry and armor. **


End file.
